Casa Calvet Restaurant, Barcelona – lunch in a Gaudi building

The Casa Calvet restaurant is housed in the Casa Calvet building in Barcelona. Built in 1899, it is one of Antoni Gaudí’s earliest buildings. It does not look as quirky as some of his later ones, although there are traces of his whimsical touches. Given that an entry fee is payable just to get in to see his other buildings (e.g. entry to La Pedrera costs 20 euro per person), the 38 euro lunch at Casa Calvet, a Michelin Guide restaurant in a Gaudi house was probably the best value for money activity that we did during our visit to Barcelona recently. We have a couple of pictures of La Pedrera for you at the end of this post.

We will not even try to give write any detailed description of the building or Gaudi as there are other websites that will give a better commentary about them. But briefly, this was built by Gaudi for a textile manufacturer who ran his business on the ground floor which the restaurant now occupies. The residential areas are upstairs. We were told that the present private dining rooms were previously the accounting and office areas of the textile merchant. The dark wood partitions and even the lamps were designed by Gaudi. As far as we can see, everything was actually quite normal except for the elaborate curvy balconies on the exterior and the huge bedbug door knocker at the front door. They must really hate bed bugs in those days.

Here is the Casa Calvet weekday lunch menu. The 38 euro three-course lunch includes bread, mineral water, a glass of wine and coffee. Not bad indeed.

The table setting was quite beautiful, but the dim lighting made taking pictures challenging.

The meal started with an amuse bouche. For starters, we had the chicken cannelloni and scrambled eggs with prawns. These are not fancy dishes, but they were well executed. The prawns in particular were very fresh and sweet.

For main course, we selected the Angus beef burger and the Shimeiji mushrooms. The burger was served on a Gaudi inspired plate. Served without a bun, we thought it was a good idea as there was a basket of bread anyway if one was inclined to eat it with bread. We were happy to eat it as it was. The meat was tender and tasty. The Shimeji mushrooms dish was light and tasted like a Chinese dish, which was nice for a change. Come to think of it, we did not come across any Chinese restaurant during the trip!

Our dessert choices were the strawberry shortcake and chocolate cake. Both were fine and provided a sweet end to the meal, but not exceptional.

Lunch at the Casa Calvet Restaurant was a charming and peaceful affair. We were pleasantly surprised by the lack of tourists. The restaurant was almost empty that day and the friendly staff showed us around the restaurant which was quite ‘normal’ by Gaudi standards. The building may not be as dramatic or quirky as his later works, (e.g. La Pedrera below) it was still a memorable experience to have lunch there.

We are simply writing as everyday folks about our own experience. Any comment on the food or service or the overall quality of our experience is just an expression of our opinion and is strictly based on what we experienced on our visit to an eatery on a particular day. Information in any blog post is correct as of date of publishing; please check with the restaurant/cafe for updated information. Read About Us.